Kidnapping survivor's mother to Craig Ross: 'You don't deserve forgiveness'

"I don't understand why the people like you do the things you do," the mother told Craig N. Ross, Jr., at his sentencing. "You took something from my daughter that cannot be replaced and I will never forgive you for that. You don't deserve forgiveness." 

The mother spoke in a packed courtroom at the sentencing where the 47-year-old Ballston Spa man received the expected sentence of 47 years to life in state prison. Ross pleaded guilty in February to kidnapping and predatory sexual assault against a child. 

The case gained nationwide attention and headlines last September. The then-9-year-old was missing for two days before being rescued.

The mother also spoke of her daughter, her strength, and what she loves. She loves animals. Even after what Ross did to her, she still expressed concern for his cat, the mother told the court.

"She is everything that you are lacking," the mother told Ross. "She is everything good in this world and you are nothing.

"She will make this world a better place. And she already has, because she wasn't afraid to tell her story."

Even Wednesday, her daughter wanted to come to court, the mother said.

Instead, the prosecutor read a statement from the girl, which the 9-year-old signed with the words "with no fear."

"It bothers me that you took advantage of me being nice," the girl said in her statement. "I'm a little changed because of it."

The girl described herself as once the prey and Ross the predator. "Now I am the predator and you are the prey.

"Let guilt dissect you until there is nothing left," the girl's statement continued.

For the prosecutor's part, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer L. Buckley called Ross depraved and despicable.

Buckley called the girl a hero.

"She's a hero and her bravery is the reason the defendant won't be able to hurt another child," Buckley told the court.

Ross gave no statement.

Judge James A. Murphy III handed down the agreed upon sentence, noting the girl's kidnapping impacted everyone in the community. 

Of Ross, Murphy referenced a standard pre-sentence interview with the probation department and report, one where the writer wrote that Ross showed an "utter lack of remorse."

"Mr. Ross," the judge followed, "even when given the opportunity today in the safety of a courtroom, to simply apologize, to show some remorse on this record, with the family present, and you declined to do so.

That "speaks volumes about the person you are," the judge said.

The courtroom gallery included members of law enforcement and those connected with the girl's family who helped in the search, including members of the New York State Police and the Schenectady Fire Department.

The girl's uncle is a longtime member of the Schenectady Fire Department. He gave his own statement Wednesday, describing the first phone call from his brother and sister-in-law, where he could only make out were that his niece was missing.

"What followed were 47 hours of pure hell and torment," as hundreds left their families, including the uncle's fire department, to help in the search.

Still, the uncle said, it was nothing compared to what his niece was going through at Ross's hands.

"People like you don't deserve a place in this world," the uncle told Ross, after telling Ross to look at him. "You're not even worthy of the cage you're going to rot in for the next 47 years."

The sentence connected to the plea deal will likely keep Ross in prison for the rest of his life. The sentence means Ross wouldn't have any chance of parole until he was in his early 90s.

Ross admitted to abducting a child on Sept. 30 when she disappeared while camping with friends and family at Moreau Lake State Park. A ransom note and a two-decade-old fingerprint taken from a drunk driving arrest helped lead investigators to Ross. The child was found alive at a residence connected to Ross two days after first being taken, authorities have said.

Images: Craig Ross Moreau kidnapping sentencing (6 photos)